Journalists talk a lot about the Freedom of Information Act. It's a key way that we hold our governments accountable. Free Press journalists recently used Michigan's Freedom of Information law to spotlight a lack of state oversight for reserve police officers and to describe unsafe homes owned by Detroit's land bank.

Every day, we use the law to obtain documents produced by governments that our tax dollars pay for. And this tool isn't just for journalists. The Freedom of Information Act is essential to ensuring local and state government agencies are accountable to the general public.

But FOIA isn't always easy to use. Some governments charge exorbitant fees to assemble and copy documents. It can be tough to know exactly which department or agency you should send your request to. And some parts of government aren't even covered by Michigan's Freedom of Information Act.

With advice from legal experts, journalists at the Free Press have learned to maneuver around high fees, redirection and outright rejection when seeking documents.

Now, we hope to share that skill with Detroit residents and nonprofits, thanks to a partnership with Michigan Community Resources and a grant from the Detroit Journalism Engagement Fund at the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.

Tuesday, the Community Foundation awarded Michigan Community Resources and the Free Press a grant of $18,020 that will allow both groups to share their legal and journalistic expertise to help residents across Detroit get to know and use the Freedom of Information Act.

"Michigan Community Resources has been supporting community-based and nonprofit organizations in Detroit and across the state for 20 years through legal and other partnerships. We are excited to be partnering with the Detroit Free Press on this project," said Shamyle Dobbs, CEO of Michigan Community Resources. "This work is designed to demonstrate the intersections between social justice and access to information as a leverage point for the community-building work of citizens and organizations. Empowering our sector with these types of tools is important now more than ever."

This partnership will include a series of in-person sessions about the Freedom of Information Act as well as ongoing communication with legal experts and journalists to coach participants on their FOIA requests and what to do if a request is rejected or prompts a large, unreasonable fee. The Free Press will create an open-source platform to make documents obtained through this program available to the public.

We are also grateful to the Michigan Press Association. The Free Press' connection with MPA led us to Robin Luce-Herrmann, head of Butzel Long's media group and a director emeritus at Michigan Community Resources. For years, Luce-Herrmann has crisscrossed the state to teach journalists how to use the Freedom of Information Act to hold governments accountable. She will be among the experts residents can count on for advice on their FOIA requests.

The partnership is just beginning. We'll have more to report with our partners in the new year.

We are proud that this project is among among several new and ongoing efforts funded by the Community Foundation's Detroit Journalism Engagement Fund, which aims to share journalistic skills with Detroit residents and include residents in the journalistic process. The fund is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

Those projects, announced by the Community Foundation in a news release Tuesday, include:

The Race and Justice Reporting Initiative pilot project by the Detroit Equity Action Lab at Wayne State University's Damon J. Keith Center. The lab plans to recruit independent journalists of color to write about issues of race and justice and create a platform to feature their work ($26,000).

A partnership between Tostada Magazine and Allied Media Projects to "develop a sustainable business strategy and continue to uplift the culinary, social and business impact of minority and immigrant communities through storytelling" ($20,000).

We congratulate the grantees and look forward to the work they will do in 2019.

Jewel Gopwani is the Free Press' senior editor for engagement at events. Contact her at jgopwani@freepress.com.